Telangana: HC relief for Karimnagar cops

HYDERABAD: Wondering why a police officer would discharge his duty with personal animosity, the Telangana high court on Tuesday stayed the six-month jail term slapped on Karimnagar police commissioner VB Kamalasan Reddy and two of his colleagues by a single judge in a contempt case.
The case pertains to an alleged police raid on a Karimnagar resort where rummy game was allowed.
Ravi Kiran Rao, counsel for Pushpanjali Resort management, argued that police had acted in a high-handed manner and even resorted to needless arrests in the case. “We have produced before the single judge documentary evidence showing how police destroyed CCTV equipment, etc, at the resort,” he said.
The high court bench sought to know from him why would police act without any reason. “What personal animosity do they have against the resort owner,” the Chief Justice asked. “However, we are not closing the case. We are merely admitting the case,” he added.
The Chief Justice, while issuing an interim order staying the sentence, said the single judge drew quick inferences without any judicial finding on the issue of planting money.
The single judge had earlier sentenced Kamalasan, his ACP and SHO at Karimnagar to six months jail and imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on them for repeatedly raiding Pushpanjali Resort in Karimnagar. What irked the single judge was the fact that the raids went on even after issuance of a restraint order. He later convicted them in a contempt case.
According to police, rummy is a game of chance and hence allowing it is a crime. The resort management, however, argued it is a game of skill and therefore is not a crime when played without stakes.
The aggrieved police officials filed an appeal against the order. The resort owner complained and the single judge also noted in his order that the police had purposefully planted money at the resort to implicate the resort owner in a criminal case.
Earlier, advocate general BS Prasad urged the court to stay the single judge order.